I've got a little time on my hands this afternoon so let's go through these. Mercifully, I'll put this behind a cut.

We'll do this in 10's, with singers I've seen in person in bold

100. Mary J Blige
99. Steven Tyler
98. Stevie Nicks
97. Joe Cocker
96. BB King
95. Patti LaBelle
94. Karen Carpenter
93. Annie Lennox
92. Morrissey
91. Levon Helm

Given that Mary J Blige essentially owns her genre, she needs to move up a bit. Karen Carpenter should be in the 80's or 70's, as should Lennox. The guy from The Band? I find their music boring, he's gotta go.

90. The Everly Brothers
89. Solomon Burke
88. Willie Nelson
87. Don Henley
86. Art Garfunkel
85. Sam Moore
84. Darlene Love
83. Patti Smith
82. Tom Waits
81. John Lee Hooker

When you're known for singing one song, and that song is now associated much more closely with John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd, your place on this list is called into question. Other than that, this chunk is alright; Don Henley has an underappreciated voice. His chorus on "Boys of Summer" gives me tingles.

80. Frankie Valli
79. Mariah Carey
78. Sly Stone
77. Merle Haggard
76. Steve Perry
75. Iggy Pop
74. James Taylor
73. Dolly Parton
72. John Fogerty
71. Toots Hibbert

Toots! The juxtaposition of Iggy Pop just ahead of Steve Perry makes me mad.

70. Gregg Allman
69. Ronnie Spector
68. Wilson Pickett
67. Jerry Lee Lewis
66. Thom Yorke
65. David Ruffin
64. Axl Rose
63. Dion
62. Lou Reed
61. Roger Daltrey

That's not the Dion I expected to see on this list. Now I know that RS has picked some non-traditional 'singers' on this list, but I don't know about putting Lou Reed on this list. Maybe it's because I saw him on Letterman recently, and his voice has had a bit of a modern Bob Dylan trajectory, if you know what I mean. Especially since Roger Daltrey charts JUST ahead of him. YYYEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

60. Bjork
59. Rod Stewart
58. Christina Aguilera
57. Eric Burdon
56. Mavis Staples
55. Paul Rodgers
54. Luther Vandross
53. Muddy Waters
52. Brian Wilson
51. Gladys Knight

Yay Bjork! How nice of Rolling Stone to put Paul Rodgers (hopefully) at least 40 spots behind Freddie Mercury. I guess we'll see...

50. Bonnie Raitt
49. Donny Hathaway
48. Buddy Holly
47. Jim Morrison
46. Patsy Cline
45. Kurt Cobain
44. Bobby "Blue" Bland
43. George Jones
42. Joni Mitchell
41. Chuck Berry

I saw Bobby "Blue" Bland -- the original popularizer of "Ain't No Sunshine" -- open for BB King at the Circle Star Theater in Redwood City... remember that place? I'd be more upset about Jim Morrison's meager showing if two legends weren't right ahead of him.

40. Curtis Mayfield
39. Jeff Buckley
38. Elton John
37. Neil Young
36. Bruce Springsteen
35. Dusty Springfield
34. Whitney Houston
33. Steve Winwood
32. Bono
31. Howlin' Wolf

Wow, I've seen half of this group, and it would probably have been 6 if a certain singer-songwriter hadn't Ophelia'd himself. I'd move Elton back a couple slots, and Neil up a few.

30. Prince
29. Nina Simone
28. Janis Joplin
27. Hank Williams
26. Jackie Wilson
25. Michael Jackson
24. Van Morrison
23. David Bowie
22. Etta James
21. Johnny Cash

Ahh, Van Morrison. "BWAAAA BWAAAA, BWA-BWAAAAA". Yeah, great singer right there. No one sounds like Bowie, good to see his strong showing here.

20. Smokey Robinson
19. Bob Marley
18. Freddie Mercury
17. Tina Turner
16. Mick Jagger
15. Robert Plant
14. Al Green
13. Roy Orbison
12. Little Richard
11. Paul McCartney

Move Robert Plant to 13 and Freddie Mercury to 14. Hmm, McCartney at 11... does that mean John beats him?

And now, the top ten...

10. James Brown . . . Fair enough.

9. Stevie Wonder . . . And now, appearing on the Rent soundtrack for no reason, is...

8. Otis Redding . . . Cool.

7. Bob Dylan . . . WTF? He belongs on the list but #7? Bump him back 10 spots.

6. Marvin Gaye . . . Awesome.

5. John Lennon . . . I always thought of myself as having more of a sharp John-voice than a round Paul-voice. He always did more interesting things with his voice during the Beatles years than Paul did.

4. Sam Cooke . . . Soul singers on the even numbers, I'm sensing a pattern.

3. Elvis Presley . . . Again, fair enough.

2. Ray Charles . . . Saw him at the end of the 1993 Bay To Breakers in GG Park.

1. Aretha Franklin . . . No argument here.


And now, the fun part: My Top Ten GLARING OMISSIONS

In order of glaring-ness...

1. Maynard James Keenan
2. Meat Loaf
3. Eddie Vedder
4. Tori Amos
5. Peter Gabriel
6. Trent Reznor
7. Cat Stevens
8. Lucinda Williams
9. Billy Corgan
10. David Byrne / Sting (tie)

On the other hand, I admire RS for the amazing degree of restraint they showed in not including Jack White on this list.

Post over!